Chapter 2

Carmina closed the door to Louisa's bedroom and leaned her head back against the frame. A tear formed and traced down her face.

"My Louisa," she thought. "How can I do this to her.

"How can I?"

The tears flowed down her cheek as she stood by her daughter's bedroom. Then she heard Louisa's muffled sounds as she pleasured herself. Not being able to take anymore, Carmina went to her bedroom and without changing, cried herself to sleep.

Not that she slept much that night. She slept fitfully, would wake up only to remember the events of the last few days. Events that brought her to exchange her daughter for own liberty. And the liberty of her daughter, so they both could stay together in the United States. That is what she hoped ... Prayed ... would happen.

Carmina worked as a housekeeper for the Larch family. She had applied for a temporary work visa so she could come to the United States from Mexico. When it expired, she just stayed on. Gina and Terrance had signed for her and promised her the job allowing her to get the Temporary Work Visa.

The Larch's had three sons, Billy, Stan and Mort. The oldest was Mort. At 17 he was tall, dark and lean. Stan was 15 and starting to get some height. Mort lauded all over him as he did the same to his youngest brother, Billy who was just 13.

Carmina had worked for them for almost 5 years and had seen a shy Mort, blossom and then turn inward. Darkness followed him and he looked the part, wearing mostly black.

Recently he had added a belt with diamond shaped silver studs and shiny chains to his daily outfit. Once a lad who laughed a lot, he constantly had a frown etched across his face.

Of the three children, she felt the saddest about Mort.

Billy and Stan still had boyish qualities about them and spoke nicely to her. Mort had gone underground and pretty much all Carmina got was a grunt from him and a cross look out of the corner of his eyes.

Around the house, Carmina always kept things neat and clean. She did although, keep a watchful eye and avoided Mort whenever possible.

Outside the Larch's, she kept a low profile too.

She lived in a run down apartment in the seedy part of town. Every once in a while there were INS raids but they were usually looking for people with no jobs or had merged into the crime underground to make money to live on. Luckily, there was never a midnight knock on her door.

That was a world she knew well.

Her husband Jose, had been a lower echelon dealer in Juarez. Five years ago, just after Carmina got the job with the Larches, he was gunned down with twenty others as the drug wars flared there.

She had no reason to go back to Mexico. She didn't want to go back to Mexico. Not for her. Not for her daughter. The better life was here in the United States.

Working hard at barely the minimum wage at least brought rent money home and scare amenities after their meager food was purchased.

Sometimes after a party, Gina would insist Carmina take home a generous assortment of leftovers. "After all," Gina would tell her, "We'll only throw them away in a few days.

"Here, take what you want," Gina would always add.

Episodes like that were fairly frequent. Each one helped because it saved her money by not having to purchase food for a few days. "All in all," Carmina always thought to herself, "life was better here."

That was until yesterday when hell descended upon her. It actually began the previous weekend but at the time Carmina didn't have a clue what would happen because of that party.

The Larch's had a larger than normal party. Almost fifty guests. A pool party for families who worked for Larch Packaging, owned by Terrance Larch.

"Mid afternoon," Gina had told her, "we'll have a buffet table and we'll barbecue everything from hot dogs to steaks. Terrance will run the grill and I'll need you to help with the table."

Gina then asked Carmina to bring her daughter to help for the day. "She can get cold drinks for everyone and help clean up afterward. She's cute and I think she might like the fifty dollars I'll pay her for the day. As it's usually your day off, I'll give you the same."

The promise of fifty dollars brought a huge smile to Louisa's face when her mother told her of the event and the offer.

"Sure. I'd love to help out," she had told her Mom.

The party had gone on real nicely. Louisa had dressed in a bright Mexican print sun dress. She had wrapped her golden hair into a bun on the back of her head and had put flowers in her hair. Her smile brightened everyone. Everyone except Mort.

Late in the day, Carmina had glanced over to the far end of the pool and caught him following Louisa with his eyes. Turning to one of his brothers and then to the other. He said something to them and their eyes were following Louisa too. The trio laughed and gave each other a high-five.

Carmina didn't like what she saw and called Louisa over to help with clearing the buffet table. When she looked back, the set of chairs at the far end of the pool, was empty. She sighed and shook her head, hoping that the boys were not plotting something.

Her trepidation was short lived and her worst fears materialized on Wednesday. That was the day when Gina told her that she and Terrance were going on a business trip for a convention in Chicago. They would be leaving early on Friday and returning late on Monday.

Gina told her she could have the weekend off. "I just need you to straighten up the house on Friday. On Monday, straighten the house and be here when Terrance and I return around seven.

"There is a Rib Roast in the freezer," Gina continued. "That would be nice for dinner for us on Monday. OK?"

"Yes, Madam," Carmina replied.

"As for the boys. They can take care of themselves for a couple of days," Gina had said.

Then she added, "Oh. Tonight Terrance and I are going out.

"It's a dinner, dance party.

"We won't be back till late.

"If you would get dinner ready for the boys, you can have the rest of the evening off."

Carmina nodded her head and replied again, "Yes, Madam."

"Something simple like spaghetti will do," Gina added. "For the weekend, there are lots of leftovers from the last party. So the boys should be fine."

"Yes, Madam," Carmina repeated once more as Gina moved toward her bedroom to shower and get ready for the evening out.

All afternoon the boys had been out of sight but not out of mind. Since the gathering at the poolside the previous weekend, where they almost seemed to be plotting something, it was constantly tugging at her mind. The dread was there, just below the surface.

Mort scared her with his ever darkening personality. Billy was always smiling and contrasted his brother's foreboding. Stan too had a light and airy way about him. Not quite as free as Billy and nowhere did darkness envelop him the way it had his older brother.

At least that was what Carmina thought.

Shortly after Gina and Terrance had left, Carmina put a large pot on the stove, filled with water and turned it on. As she turned to get the spaghetti out of the overhead cabinet, the trio startled her.

Mort was standing there, holding, waving something with a foreboding grin on his face. The other two brothers were smiling that same dark smile. Teeth bared, incisors showing like they were Lycans getting ready for the kill. The intensity of the look the boys gave Carmina made the hair on the back of her neck bristle.

"Do you recognize this?" Mort asked her, waving that something at her. His hand slowed and chills ran through her. It was her 'Green Card.'

Mort took a step toward her and thrust his hand into her face, folded it around the card. Deepening his voice and lowering his face, he looked at Carmina, threateningly through the bottoms of his eyebrows.

"Yes, you do recognize this, don't you," Mort said, bringing fear up into her throat.

"Interesting little thing isn't it. A Green Card," he said as he turned it toward his face and scrunching his eyebrows, peered at it.

Pointing to the lower right corner with the index finger of his other hand, he exclaimed, "And look. It's E.X.P.I.R.E.D," he said, spelling out the last word a letter at a time.

"Expired!" he repeated. Then Mort showed it to his brothers and they echoed the word, "Expired!"

"Yes. That is interesting," Mort continued. "We have an illegal alien right here with us."

"Yes!" his brothers sounded in unison to Mort's statement, "an Illegal Alien!"

Mort theatrically scratched his head and said in an ever deepening and softer voice, "What should we do?

"What should we do?"

After a few thoughtful seconds, which Carmina dreaded, he continued as he brought something out of his pocket. He flipped it open showing her it was a cell phone. "Oh. I know. I'll just call INS and have you picked up.

"Deported!" Mort almost yelled at her, making her shake from the forceful exclamation.

He started to dial a number.

"No! Please!" Carmina pleaded.

"I'll do anything you ask.

"Anything!

"Please don't call them. Please!" Carmina cried in desperation.

"Hear that boys," Mort said in a deep, throaty, almost Bela Lugosi growl, "This Whore will do anything for us. Anything."